Floor



(No Model.)

D. MCDONALD. FLOOR.

WITNESSES INVENTOR s o6 (if? 9971;:

UNITED STATES PATENT I ()FFICE. I I

DONALD MCDONALD, OF LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE' ASSIGNMENTS, TO THE NATIONAL-HEAT AND POWER CONSTRUCTION FLOOR.

' SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 530,959, dated December 18, 1894.

Application filed April 16, 1894- Serial No. 507,708- (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, DONALD MCDONALD, a resident of Louisville, in the county of Jefferson and State of Kentucky, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Floors; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

My invention relates to fire-proof floors, its object being to construct a strong, durable and inexpensive floor suitable for gas-works, mills, warehouses, and other buildings.

Heretofore, for instance, floors for gasworks have generally been constructed of plates formed either of cast or wrought iron, but they are objectionable on account of their great cost, their great Weight, and the difficulty of cutting holes through them for the introduction of pipes and other purposes. Furthermore, in the construction of tile or cement floors, it has been customary to support the tiles or cement upon bars connecting the floor beams. As the floor beams in most cases consist of I-beams, the usual ways of supporting the cross-bars is by resting them upon the lower flanges of the I-beams. This construction leaves the cross-bars weak, and requires special construction of parts, because the length of the bars is confined to the distance between the I-beams.

The object of my invention is.to obviate these difficulties, and it comprises, generally stated, aseries of supporting I-beams, a series of inverted solid metal T-bars resting upon the upper flanges thereof, (each T-bar extending over two beams) and incombustible blocks supported on the flanges of said inverted T-bars.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention,I will describe the same more fully, referring to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is a perspective view of my improved floor. Fig. 2 is a section on the line 2-2, Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a view with the blocks laid on their edges.

Like letters of reference indicate like parts in each of the figures.

The beams to are ordinary steel I-beams used in floor construction, and arranged at suitable intervals apart. Resting upon the top flanges a. of said I-oeams a are the inverted T-bars b, said T-bars extending over several of the I-beams and receiving support and bracing from each such beam, while there is no necessity of cutting into either beams or bars, except such bolting or riveting as is necessary to hold the T-bars stationary. Said T-bars have their webs b preferably of less height than the thickness or width of the blocks they are to support, for the reason more fully hereinafter set forth. The blocks a are formed of a vitreous substance, fire-clay, or other durable material incombustible in its nature. These blocks rest with their ends upon the flanges b of the inverted T-bars b, either having their flat faces resting on said flanges b as shown in Fig. 1, or where the floor is constructed to bear heavy loads, with their edges resting on said flanges, as shown in Fig. 2.

As above stated, the web I) of the T-bars b are of less height than the width'or thickness of the blocks a, so that whether said blocks are laid flat or on their edges they will I extend above said webs b and leave a slight groove between the ends of the adjoining rows of blocks, as at d. These grooves d are filled in with cement or other suitable material flush with the blocks 0, thereby presenting an even and well packed joint.

My improved floor can be quickly construeted and at small cost, and as short connecting' pieces between the beams are done away with, and the T-bars each extend over a number of bars, a strongly braced floor is Obtained, while if any part thereof needs repairing it is only necessary to remove the worn-out blocks and replace them with new ones without tearing up the rest of the floor. As the blocks rest upon theflanges of the inverted T-irons above the I-beams, ready access may be had for the removal of the blocks.

The vertical webs of the T-bars furnish a very strong support between the I-bearns, and there is no liability of the'saggingof the floor. No rivet holes are formed in the webs of the I-beams which tend to weaken same.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is I 1. In a floor, the combination with the sup- TO blocks resting on the flanges of said T-bars,

L ,lkl a e; Pa n bs .Qi lassaw tl'l :fhan the thickness of said b'locks, substantially as set faith.

In testimony whereof I, the said DONALD MCDONALD, have hereunto set my.hand.

DONALD MCDONALD.-

Witnessies: v

KENNEDY, WM. H. ORUTCHER. 

